Iphigenia Stokes
Iphigenia Stokes was the lover of Timothy O'Connell prior to his death. Personal History Iphigenia is the only daughter of Aristopholous Xenokratides, a Greek sailor who married a girl from Cheapside and took her name, Stokes. Owing to her gender, Iphigenia stayed ashore and became a seamstress while her brothers became sailors. She augmented her income by taking up with various men, including Timothy O'Connell until his death in 1757. Events of the Novels ''Lord John and the Private Matter In June 1757, while investigating the murder of Timothy O'Connell Lord John Grey meets Iphigenia and her family when they arrive at the constables to collect Tim's body for burial. Iphigenia at the time in an argument with Tim's widow Francine O'Connell who had shown up, very pregnant, with a new husband and her own tribe of people to bury Tim. The two women exchange a number of hate filled words. Iphigenia pointing out that Francine has no right to be there as she had not even carried enough to come clean Tim up - where she had - and to show up swollen with another man's child freshly married before Tim had even been buried. Their argument turned into a fight which was broken up by Grey and prevented from starting again by the presence of Constable Magruder. Grey manages to broker a deal that if Iphigenia repays the cost of the coffin that Francine would allow Tim to be buried at St. Giles by Reverend Cobb as Iphigenia had planned. With it agreed to Iphigenia and her company leave, carrying the coffin with them. Iphigenia refraining from looking back or saying another word to Francine. Through an observation by Tom Byrd that her associates sounded French Grey determined they were Greek. This bringing Grey to believe that her family may be of sailors, who as Harry Quarry points out wear wooden heeled shoes like those that left the heel-print on Tim's forehead. Grey is uncertain that she would have wished Tim harmed as she was genuine in her desire to see him buried properly. However, Quarry points out that any of her kin could have done it for her honor sake after learning Tim already had a wife. They agree to check into the Stokes family further. The inquiries into the Stokes only turned up that Iphigenia's father was a Greek sailor who had jumped ship in London some forty years ago and married a local girl wisely taking her name. All of Iphigenia's brothers returned to the sea leaving her stranded ashore to make a living by needle and occasional financial help of men she had lived with. Grey requested Malcolm Stubbs to further investigate any connections the family had, but holds little hope of finding anything useful. Through Grey and Quarry's meeting with Hubert Bowles all suspicions of Iphigenia and her family are put to rest. Bowles advising them that he is familiar with the family. They are petty smugglers at best but have no political lines nor any connection to persons at Lavender House. During Joseph Trevelyan's confession of the events regarding Tim and Reinhardt Mayrhofer he tells Grey that he'd sent Jack Byrd to try and induce Iphigenia into getting Tim to act but she was indifferent to Jack - much to Trevelyan's surprise. Grey suggests that perhaps she truly loved Tim. Personality Iphigenia is far from demur. She is very vocal in her opinions and does not back down from a fight. Physical Appearance Iphigenia is a solid woman with curly black hair. Relationships Timothy O'Connell Iphigenia began seeing and living with Tim O'Connell in the spring of 1756 when he left his wife Francine O'Connell. She held sincere feelings for Tim. In the wake of his death, following his return from being stationed in France, Iphigenia came to the Constable's to clean his body and get him ready to be laid to rest. She was able to ensure a plot for him at St. Giles with a service performed by Reverend Cobb. Name *'Iphigenia''' is a Latinized form of Iphigeneia,Behind the Name: Iphigenia - accessed 10 August 2016 derived from Greek ιφιος (iphios) "strong, stout" and γενης (genes) "born".Behind the Name: Iphigeneia - accessed 10 August 2016 *'Stokes' is a variant of Stoke,Ancestry: Stokes - accessed 10 August 2016 a habitational name from any of the numerous places throughout England named from Middle English stoke. The exact sense in individual cases is not clear; it seems to have meant originally merely "place", and to have been used mainly for an outlying hamlet or dependent settlement.Ancestry: Stoke - accessed 10 August 2016 Trivia References Category:Characters Category:18th century characters Category:English characters Category:Protestant characters Category:Characters in the Lord John series Category:Characters in The Private Matter